Administrative Lab Services Coordinator Lead

Lab Services Coordinator

Fully on-site: Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30AM - 5:00PM. Reporting to the Practice Manager, this mission critical position is responsible for departmental administrative tasks and the review of complex patient appointment sets and associated lab work. The Lab Services Coordinator (LSC) works in a busy environment with a high patient volume, managing complex tasks while balancing multiple real-time priorities, and, when appropriate, acting as the escalation point for issues presenting at main reception. The LSC is an ambassador of the DFCI patient experience while efficiently managing the patient check-in process; uploading outside imaging into Epic, being responsible for offering exemplary customer service and resolving and triaging issues presented during both face-to-face or telephone interactions.

Located in Boston and the surrounding communities, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a leader in life changing breakthroughs in cancer research and patient care. We are united in our mission of conquering cancer, HIV/AIDS, and related diseases. We strive to create an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment where we provide compassionate and comprehensive care to patients of all backgrounds, and design programs to promote public health particularly among high-risk and underserved populations. We conduct groundbreaking research that advances treatment, we educate tomorrow's physician/researchers, and we work with amazing partners, including other Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals.

Fully on-site: Hours: Monday - Friday 8:30AM - 5:00PM

Primary Responsibilities

Lab Services Coordinator I:

Reporting to the Practice Manager and working under the guidance of the Lab Services Lead, this mission critical position is responsible for the following:

• Verifies complex appointment sets across disciplines for oncology patients in accordance with scheduling guidelines
• Acquires, enters and links verbal lab orders from Providers
• Maintains confidentiality of Protected Health Information (PHI)
• Performs past-pending reconciliations
• Provides superior customer service to all patients, family members, physicians and staff in accordance with the DFCI Customer Service Standards
• Performs front desk check-in functions: verifies patient identification; prints patient wristbands; assigns Real-Time Locating System (RTLS) badges; and asks patients screening questions. Prints and reviews appointment schedules for patients
• Notifies nursing and lab staff of issues as needed
• Answers telephone and provides general disease or program-specific information to callers within the scope of knowledge and authority
• Reviews missing labs reports and works with staff from other departments to resolve missing labs
• Identifies inconsistencies with, or outstanding questions regarding lab panel orders. Works directly with Providers to reconcile the order to prevent a delay for the patient
• Transports wheelchair patients or arranges for patient Escorts and/or wheelchairs

• Creates orders and imports outside images from digital media into Epic
• Understands and uses Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), applicable image upload software, and computer equipment to import images from digital media to PACS
• Troubleshoots images and collaborates with Imaging Department, when necessary, to resolve and successfully import images into PACS

• Manages and reconciles all patient CDs from intake to upload completion. Works collaboratively with team members to ensure efficient completion of daily work queue
• Mails requested CDs back to patient or discarding of CDs per departmental guidelines

• Delivers outstanding customer service to internal and external customers
• Timely and accurately responds to the needs of internal and external customers
• Ability to deescalate patient grievances, maintain customer service standards, and involve department leadership as necessary

• Demonstrates ability to effectively communicate across leadership levels and with varying audiences
• Synthesizes and communicates complex information in patient friendly terms
• Works effectively as a member of the team and across functional teams
• Fosters a sense of shared responsibility among the team

• Recognizes emergencies and appropriately responds using standard operating procedures and critical thinking skills

• Compliance with DFCI policies and procedures
• Understanding their role and responsibility in obtaining successful Joint Commission accreditation
• HIPAA regulation compliance
• Completion of assigned AEU and Health Stream competencies
• Actively participates and provides constructive feedback on quality improvement projects

• Maintains a level of competency in all operational systems including: Epic, RTLS, Outlook, Sunquest, QuickBase, Centricity and LifeIMAGE
• Actively engaged in system upgrades and effected operational changes
• Manages supply of RTLS badges including: assembling, maintaining, collecting, distributing, cleaning, and troubleshooting problem badges
• Actively participates in system(s) downtime and confidently moves seamlessly between normal operations and downtime procedures

Lab Services Coordinator II:

In addition to the responsibilities of the LSC I, the LSC II has additional duties outlined below:

• Manage and respond to incoming overbooking requests in accordance to departmental guidelines
• Monitors multiple scheduling reports to ensure accuracy in patient scheduling and optimization of resource utilization
• Participates in training new team members as requested
• In the absence of the Lead, assumes daily report needs, communicates with Charge Nurse and Lead Phlebotomist and monitors Provider schedules
• Demonstrates critical thinking skills and ability to resolve complex customer service and scheduling issues
• Enters data into patient-care related databases

Lab Services Coordinator Lead:

In addition to the responsibilities of the LSC I and II, the LSC Lead has additional duties outlined below:

• Role model and resource to LSC team
• Motivates and drives effective performance of the team
• Maintains a proactive approach to problem solving
• Working in coordination with the Practice Manager and serves as leader/champion in the roll-out of initiatives and projects
• Establishes and develops strong working relationship with Clinical Nurse Director and Charge Nurse
• Contributes input on annual performance evaluation for LSC team
• Communicates team concerns, performance issues, and trends, to the Practice Manager
• Conducts and transcribes minutes for monthly staff meeting in the absence of the Practice Manager
• Maintains strong lines of communication with the Practice Manager
• Understands and aligns with Practice Manager goals and Institute-wide goals and initiatives

• Functions as a content expert in scheduling appointment types
• Responsible for scheduling mailbox management including monitoring and assignment to team members
• Monitors floor-based reports, scheduling reports and lab work queue
• Troubleshoots scheduling errors and offers feedback to disease-based back-office staff, i.e. Clinic Coordinators, Established Patient Schedulers, New Patient Coordinators, Protocol Schedulers, etc.

• Provides administrative support during Adult Medical Responses

• Assists in the development and comprehensive training curriculum and maintenance of training manual for LSC team
• Creates administrative tip-sheets and tools, for floor-wide use
• Manages office supply par levels and orders supplies in accordance with budget guidelines
• Manages cleanliness of environment including: waiting room, check-in areas and waiting room
• Maintains and organizes all administrative closets, drawers and cabinets
• Assists with new hire interviewing and onboarding

• Real time collaboration with Charge Nurse and Lead Phlebotomist on clinic flow, communication and resolution of bottlenecks
• Model superior, respectful, verbal and non-verbal communication with internal and external customers and patients
• Works with Lead Phlebotomist to manage patient wait-time issues and communications, escalating to Practice Manager when necessary
• First point of contact for patient wait time issues and coordinates service recovery as needed
• Offers support to LSC team in challenging customer service and Provider issues

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute